Hoyer Wants More Facts on ACORN Before Pulling Funding

The bill--the Defund ACORN Act--was attached as an amendment to a measure giving the federal government primacy in student lending.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that Congress needs to gather more facts before it decides whether to cut off all federal funds for ACORN, the liberal nationwide network of community-based organizations.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Hoyer: "You voted a couple of days ago for an amendment which prohibited federal funding from going to ACORN. Are you committed to ensuring that a final bill which prohibits federal funding of ACORN passes this year and will you urge President Obama to sign that bill into law?"

Hoyer said: "As you probably heard [House Education and Labor Chairman] George Miller [D-Calif.] say on the floor, there was no money in that bill for ACORN. I think we're going to be looking at what in fact are the facts here with respect to ACORN. Once we find out what the facts are then we'll be in a better position to make a determination [on funding]."

"That amendment was [passed] to make a point, but there were no funds in that bill to go to ACORN," said Hoyer.

Like Hoyer, Rep. Miller also voted for the amendment that was being pushed by the Republican leadership in the House.

"What Mr. Miller, in supporting the amendment, as you know, simply said [was], 'Look, this is really an issue that's simply moot--in terms of our bill,'" said Hoyer at his briefing. "But, clearly we don't want to give federal funds to enterprises that are involved in activities which clearly we don't support."

The bill--the Defund ACORN Act--was attached as an amendment to a measure giving the federal government primacy in student lending (the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009), which had strong support from Democrats.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the amendment's chief sponsor, said that the time had come to finally "defund" ACORN. The amendment passed 345-75, with Majority Leader Hoyer and Education Chairman Miller both voting "aye."

"ACORN, as our committee had previously reported, is an organization with a long history of criminal indictments and activities, so much so that, in fact, the Census Bureau has, on its own, removed its funding," said Issa on Sept. 17. "The Senate has voted 83-7 to remove funding. We must do the same thing."

Rep. Issa's amendment was directed at cutting off all federal funding for ACORN.

The amendment, Issa said, "simply makes the defunding of ACORN a portion of this bill."

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Miller, taking to the House floor immediately after Rep. Issa, said that because ACORN was not getting any money out of his student loan bill, denying it funding was "not the issue."

"As to this amendment, ACORN gets, I believe, no money under this bill, but that's not the issue," Miller said, but he nonetheless asked his colleagues to support the defunding amendment and then move forward with passage of the full bill. The full bill did pass 253-171.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has come under scrutiny recently after the release of multiple videos apparently showing ACORN employees instructing two journalists posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to file taxes for an illegal business.

The bill must now pass the Senate before being sent to conference, where both houses must agree on it before sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature. If Obama signs the final bill with Issa's amendment in it, providing federal funding to ACORN will be prohibited. If the ACORN amendment is stripped out either in the Senate or in conference, it will not become law.

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